Portrait of a Woman

1635 · Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

portrait

Van Ravesteyn was exclusively a portrait painter. His mature style responds to Michiel van Miereveld, but his approach to portraiture was more fluid and more flattering than Van Miereveld's, who nevertheless enjoyed greater favour from members of the Dutch court and an international reputation. The present painting may have had a pendant, but no trace of one is known.

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About the Artist

Jan Antonisz. van Ravesteyn

1572 – 1657

Dutch painter. It is not known who was his teacher, but he was a follower of the Delft portrait painter Michiel Jansz van Miereveld. In 1598 he became a member of the Guild of St Luke in The Hague, and later he served as an officer in various capacities. The only known paintings by him are portraits. One of his few early works to have survived is the portrait of the future Remonstrant leader Hugo de Groot Aged 16 (1599; Institut Néerlandais, Paris), which is unusual for its round format and striking close-up view of the sitter. The remainder of his extant oeuvre dates mainly from between 1610 and 1640, with portraits from nearly every year of this period.

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